Big Vision, Small Business

Chapter 17

MAINTAINING RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS

YOU HAVE SURELY had experiences with a company for which the clear priority was getting, not keeping, your business. You know the usual clues revealing a lack of respect for the customer—long wait times, overworked customer-service representatives, lack of empowerment to solve problems, late or unavailable merchandise, messes left behind by workers, inaccessible account representatives.

Worse, there is that emerging trend Civilization magazine called “prosuming,” where you “let your customers work for you,” doing the work formerly done by paid employees. The article pointed to software, ...